Rick Santorum: ‘The establishment has made their choice’

Rick Santorum mocked the Romney campaign Wednesday for suggesting that, like shaking an Etch A Sketch, Romney will be able to revamp his image once the primary campaign ends.

“Well, that should be comfortable to all of you who are voting in this primary, that whoever you’re going to vote for is going to be a completely new candidate, remove all trace of any kind of marks and be able to draw a new picture, making pictures similar to when he ran Massachusetts, not as a conservative,” Santorum said during a campaign stop at Superior Energy Services, an oil and natural gas services company in Harvey, La.

The comment came in response to a statement made by Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom, who told CNN earlier Wednesday morning that the campaign would be able to “hit the reset button” in the fall.

“Everything changes,” Fehrnstrom said. “It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and we start all over again.”

Santorum, who has made attacking Romney’s evolving positions on issues such as healthcare a mainstay of his campaign, was more than happy to jump on the gaffe as evidence that Romney can’t be trusted.

“One thing you can say, even my staunchest critics will say, is what you see is what you get,” Santorum said. “…[Romney] will say what he needs to say to win the election that’s before him and if he has to say something different because it’s a different election and a different group of voters, he’s willing to say that, too. Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve had enough of politicians like that in this country.”

The controversey over Fehrnstrom’s remark came as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush had endorsed Romney, an announcement that reflects the urgency some party leaders feel about winding down the nomination fight.

Responding to news of the endorsement, Santorum said: “The estabslishment has made their choice. I think the people of Louisiana are going to make a little different choice.”

kim.geiger@latimes.com

Santorum: ‘The establishment has made their choice’